Assembly members say Wrangell and Petersburg a poor legislative match

By the time they are done touring the state on Nov. 1, the Alaska Redistricting Board will have visited 24 communities to gather public comments on six proposed maps for redrawing boundaries of every legislative district in the state.

On Oct. 7, four of the five board members met with community members in Wrangell at the Nolan Center to explain the maps and how the boundaries were determined. The board will consider the information from its community meetings to decide on its final maps by the Nov. 10 deadline.

When completed, each of 40 state House districts must be as close to a population of 18,355 as possible based on the results of the 2020 census. Some in Wrangell believe that to be a problem since they think the count was inaccurate.

“We have a problem with our census count. We think it’s too low,” said borough Assemblymember Patty Gilbert.

Redistricting Board member Budd Simpson, of Juneau, said the board is mandated by law to use the census numbers in the redistricting process.

Though the boundaries will change, Southeast will not lose a seat in the Legislature.

Both Gilbert and Assemblymember Anne Morrison voiced displeasure over the maps that put Wrangell and Petersburg in the same district, a change from the current legislative map that has Wrangell and Ketchikan in one district and Petersburg in another with Sitka and smaller Southeast communities.

“We want to be aligned with Ketchikan rather than Petersburg,” Gilbert said.

“Or with Sitka,” Morrison added.

They believe Wrangell and Petersburg compete over state services.

“Whenever there’s a budget cut, we lose a state office. We lost our Fish and Game, we lost our public nurse, and OCS (Office of Children’s Services),” Morrison said. “It’s always Petersburg, so then we’re without it. That’s why we would fare better being in with Ketchikan, who’s a big enough community to have their own, and we wouldn’t have to share it with Petersburg.”

While some of the draft maps join Wrangell and Petersburg in the same district, others do not.

“In Petersburg, they had a little bit of an opposite view. They view (Wrangell) as their good neighbor community,” Simpson said. “They mentioned the kids play sports together and that’s really important, but they don’t see you as the competitor.”

The redistricting process is contentious, and usually ends up in litigation. One of the proposed maps placed both Juneau House incumbents into the same district, which would force the two Democrats to run against each other or one to drop out.

“It’s not our job to make sure that we don’t put two representatives into one district because we don’t know where they live, but when that was called to our attention I did go back and look at where it was,” Simpson said.

There was a “weird little census block,” Simpson said, so adjustments were made to correct the split. “We were accused of gerrymandering, which was not the case because to gerrymander, you have to know where (a representative) lives.”

The turnout for public hearings in most communities has been, on average, about 12 people, Simpson said, except for Juneau where 40 people attended. He said they were “fired up” about the map that would force the two incumbents to run against each other.

Unless blocked by the courts, the new maps will be in place for the 2022 election.

 

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